Click photo to enlarge…

Above, is Bill Koelzer, my husband, along with fellow Realty personage in the Donald Trump book, Blanche Evans, at the National Association of Realtors Convention in New Orleans.

Blanche is editor of RealtyTimes.com, and listed as one of the 25 most powerful women in Real Estate. On the right side of the photo, is me, Debbie Ferrari, South Orange County real estate Broker-Realtor.

Check out my new ad that is running in the San Clemente Journal and will soon run in many other newspapers and South Orange County media. We were so thrilled to have an entire chapter in the new Donald Trump best selling book:

Trump—The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received:
100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies.
(Amazon.com and nationwide bestseller)

Others among Trump’s top 100 experts include Steve Bollenbach, CEO, Hilton Hotels; Mortimer Zuckerman, chairman, U.S. News and World Report and New York Daily News; Blanche Evans, Editor, Realty Times; Dorothy Herman, president/CEO of Prudential Douglas Elliman, NYC’s largest realty firm; Bruce Karatz, chairman/CEO, KB Home, one of the country’s largest homebuilders; Barbara Corcoran, founder, The Corcoran Group, NYC’s largest realty firm; Jim Gillespie, president/CEO, Coldwell Banker; Jack Peckham III, Real Estate CyberSpace Society; Tom Kunz, president/CEO of Century 21; Leonard Lauder; chairman, Estee Lauder Companies, Inc.; Dave Liniger, cofounder/chairman, RE/MAX; Terry J. Lundgren, chairman/president, Federated Stores;
John J. Mack, chairman/CEO of Morgan Stanley; Bernie Marcus, cofounder, Home Depot; Bruce E. Mosler, president/CEO, Cushman & Wakefield global real estate; and Jonathan M. Tisch, chairman/CEO of Loews Hotels.

To advertise in the San Clemente Journal, see the below contact information:

PO Box 788
San Clemente, CA 92672
Phone: 949.492.8981
Fax: 949.492.8193
E-Mail: Don@sanclementejournal.com

http://www.sanclementejournal.com

If you want to advertise in the San Clemente Sun Post newspaper, contact April to have her place ads for you. Here is her contact information:

April Driggers
Account Executive
The Orange County Register, OC Post,
The Sun Post News, OC HOME Magazine,
Coast KIDS Magazine, Squeeze OC Magazine
(949) 454-7396
(949) 351-0817 (cell)
(949) 454-7388 (fax)
adriggers@ocregister.com
Assistant - Pat Stone
pstone@ocregister.com
949-465-5411

Last night at the fabulous Chamber of Commerce mixer held at the elegant Pacific Coast National Bank on Calle Amanacer in San Clemente, we met the delightful April Driggers, Account Executive of the San Clemente Sun Post Newspaper.

She has only been there about a month and she was aware of the big MLS ad that I run every Tuesday in the “Business Cards” ad section.

Soon, we will be running a new series of ads that are soooo remarkable that we can’t really say right now what they are. But they will be so unique among Realtor ads that the whole town will be talking about these real estate-related ads when they begin to run, once a week or maybe a little more often.

Meanwhile, my “If Donald Trump listens to Debbie, shouldn’t you too?” Realtor ad keeps running in the San Clemente Journal and is also in the San Clemente Chamber of Commerce’s 2007 Community Directory that goes to thousands of homes in the area.

If you want to contact April to have her place ads for you in the San Clemente Sun Post newspaper, here is her contact information:

April Driggers
Account Executive
The Orange County Register, OC Post,
The Sun Post News, OC HOME Magazine,
Coast KIDS Magazine, Squeeze OC Magazine
(949) 454-7396
(949) 351-0817 (cell)
(949) 454-7388 (fax)
adriggers@ocregister.com
Assistant - Pat Stone
pstone@ocregister.com
949-465-5411

According to Prudential California Realty, these

are the ways and percentages showing how

home buyers find the home they buy:

36% - Real Estate Professional

24% - Internet

15% - Yard Sign

7% - Relative, Neighbor, Friend

7% - Home Builder

5% - Newspaper Ad

3% - Knew the Seller

1% - Magazine - Homes for sale book

So, if you are a Realtor, you better start investing in more online Internet resources so that you can start attracting real estate home buyers here in Orange County, California.

If you are a home buyer, choose a well established Internet Realtor to handle your purchase…search for “(name of city or county) Realtor” and see who comes up highest. For example, search on Google for “South Orange County Realtor” or “San Clemente Real Estate” and choose from one of the top ten agents shown there.

You might want to select ONLY from Realtors shown there; sites that are mere lists or directories of agents often are not as reliable as the sites of actual agents who have their own have earned their own web presence and did not have to ride the back of a realty directory to get found.

If you are a home seller, choose a Realtor who has impressive web presence, not only on the Google and AOL search engines, but in many major real estate web sites in the list of agents who are associated with a given city.

Debbie Ferrari, Realtor, Orange County’s leading Internet Broker

 Statistics About Realtors

• More than 77 % own a digital camera.

• Nearly one million have a home office used for business.

• Realtors spend more than $510 million annually on client/business/escrow closing gifts annually. For a unique gift that your clients will never forget, you might want to Fedex them live lobsters or other seafood. Just send your escrow closing gift from here, what could be simpler?

• The median Value of a Realtor’s investment portfolio is nearly $160.000.

• Among Realtors, 84% either have a web site or plan to have one for business purposes.

• Realtors charge more than $18 billion on their credit cards per year.

Here are some tips for home buyers who are

seeking an Orange County, CA home this spring.

Panoramic Ocean View and $500,000 in Upgrades Found in Fabulously Remodeled San Clemente Home See our TV commercial on this home: CLICK HERE. Have Debbie show you her newest listing… upgraded inside and out with a 180-degree Panoramic Ocean View from high atop a San Clemente hill. Only $2.1 million. For many pages of detailed description on dozens of upgrades, CLICK HERE.

1. Sell Your Current Home

At least put your home on the market at a reasonable price. It is taking longer to sell a home, now, so unless you can afford paying for two mortgages simultaneously, it’s best to either sell your old home first, or at least have it in escrow before looking for a new orange county home to buy.

2. Check Comparable Area Home Prices

Before you make an offer on a home, have your buyers agent research and get for you what is called a “Comparative Market Analysis.” This study of homes currently for sale and those that have sold within the past six months. Pay special attention to whether the homes in the CMA are actually comparable to the one that you are considering.

For example, there could be two homes of the same square footage and the same floor plan. But Orange County home one may be in a gated, guarded golf club community and the other home might be in a deteriorating part of town, or border a noisy freeway. Be sure it is apples and apples that are being compared. Beware of sites like Zillow.com which can be several months behind in their figures.

3. Make Sense With Your Offer

Nobody is going to GIVE you a home, so quit dreaming. Never make an offer that’s more than 10% below the asking price unless there are major extenuating circumstances. Low ball offers are usually perceived as an insult by sellers and when you make one, you are just cutting your own throat for further negotiations/counter offers on your Orange County Real Estate purchase.

If the home seems radically overpriced, have your buyer’s agent collect evidence in the form of a CMA and ask the seller’s Realtor to show it to the seller, or at least explain why the asking price of the home is quite different than what YOUR Realtor’s CMA showed.

You can always pay the seemingly high price, but offset that with concessions, such as asking the seller to pay the closing costs, etc.

4. “SOLD” on a Sign May Not Mean “SOLD”

Plenty of south orange county homes fall out of escrow so have your agent follow the progress of the escrows on homes that may have “gotten away from you.” Often, after a home falls out of escrow, sellers may become more realistic about a lower price or at least may eager accept another offer so soon after the old one went kaput. This applies to new home sales, too.

5. Get Your Credit and Finances All Ready.

Get yourself a letter of credit from a financial institution showing that you are approved for a loan sufficient to cover the purchase price of whatever the home costs that you are shopping for. Get copies of your credit history report or have the loan institution do it before they issue your letter of credit.

Call me with any questions.

Debbie Ferrari, Licensed Broker/Realtor:

Serving all of South Orange County, CA
Providing Realtor® and real estate services for: San Clemente, Dana
Point, San Juan Capistrano, Laguna Niguel, Aliso Viejo, Monarch Beach,
Capistrano Beach, Laguna Hills, Beach Cities, and South and Central
Orange County, California
Prudential California Realty
San Clemente Location: 2924 Camino Capistrano, San Clemente, CA 92672
23811 Aliso Creek Road, Suite 181 | Laguna Niguel, CA 92677
(Inside The Laguna Niguel Design Center | Corner of Aliso Creek and Alisa)
Call Me Toll Free: 888-547-2942
Voice (949) 496-4159 | Fax (949) 625-8622
Cell Phone: 949-463-4111
E-mail: deb4re@cox.net
http://www.debbieferrari.com